Kingdom Hearts: Re Cast: Snow Princess
by chanchi76
Summary: Kairi is a lowly servant that gets mistaken for a Princess.  Sora is the Prince, her soontobe fiance.  In a Re Cast: of the story SNOW WHITE, the KH characters are returning to play their new parts!
1. Snow Kairi

**Bored, bored, bored, decided to create this story after reading someone else's fanfiction that has nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts in the first place.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Kingdom Hearts character mentioned in this story. I do not own the Snow White story/legend.**

**The country of 'Destiny' is from the Destiny Islands, kind of random, but I couldn't think of anything else.**

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Chapter 1- _**Enter Snow White (a.k.a. Princess Kairi)**_

"My Lord Sora!" A white haired man ran up to a young man with spiky brown hair. The man turned, his blue eyes reflected the white haired man's reflection in them.

"What is it, Riku?" he asked. Riku bowed immediately.

"My Lord, the Lord of Destiny, your father, has accepted another woman into the palace. He requests that you come meet her."

"Another one?" the man, Sora, rolled his eyes. "That's the fifth one this week. Can't he lay off me for a few days?"

"My Lord, your 21st birthday is coming up, if you do not have a wife by then, then you cannot take the throne from your father. You cannot become the Heir to Destiny."

"I know, Riku, I know," Sora sighed. "But most of these women are just weird. I didn't like _any_ of the princesses that walked through the palace doors."

"My Lord, you may like this one. She is not a Princess at all. At least, she _thinks _she's not a princess." Sora sighed and started walking to his father's throne.

"What do you mean she doesn't _think_ she's a princess?" Sora wondered.

"She says that she is not, but she acts and speaks as if she is one of Royalty," Riku replied. "My Lord, she may be the _one_."

"I'll see about that when I meet her."

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"My Lady, if what you say is true, then you aren't a Princess, therefore you cannot marry my son. _But_, if you capture his heart, where so many maidens have failed, then I will give you my permission to marry him,"

"Thank you My Lord. But really, I came here to work. Both of my parents have died from the plague. I have no family left, and I have no money. I wish to work here to get money to support myself and keep the house that my parents left me," Kairi bowed in front of the King.

"Good, now My Lady, until my son decides that you are not _worthy _for him, you will have an escort and a bodyguard with you at all times."

"Your Majesty, that is not necessary, I don't need to be treated like a Princess. I am not—"

"My Lady, during your stay, you will be a Princess. You have all the qualifications to become a Princess, so why not take the chance? Saix, come here."

"What is it, My Lord Xemnas?" a blue haired man with an X shaped scar on his face came forward from doors behind the throne.

"Saix, I want you to accompany Princess Kairi during her stay here," he ordered calmly. Then he whispered. "She's going to try to take Sora's heart."

"How cruel," Saix smirked. Then he walked over to Kairi. "Princess, if you would just follow me, I'll take you up to your rooms." Kairi hesitantly followed him out of the throne room, looking back at the King occasionally.

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"Your Majesty," Riku immediately bowed at the feet of the King.

"Hey Dad," Sora waved at his father. Riku twitched at his Master's blunt and informal manner.

"Sora, I'm sure that Riku already told you about the Princess that had just arrived," King Xemnas looked down with amusement at Riku, who flushed in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, My Lord," he mumbled. "I couldn't wait to tell him. You should have been the one to break the news. I'm terribly-"

"So…when do the dates start?" Sora interrupted, putting his arms behind his head.

"They will start whenever you feeling like starting. But I prefer it would be in the next two or three days. Saix is going to show her around and watch after her."

"_That_ madman?" both Sora and Riku groaned. Saix had been known for punishing the young prince and his servant since he was the head of security.

"Yes, _that_ madman," Xemnas smirked. At least Saix could keep Sora in line when he couldn't. And his older sister, Larxene, wasn't helping either. She liked to stay up in her rooms all day with her servants going in and out of the rooms.

"By the way, Dad, could you tell Larxene to lay off of the hot water during bath times? She keeps using up all of the hot water before I take a bath," Sora complained.

"I'll tell her," Xemnas made a mental note to change the hot water taps leading to his oldest daughter's room. Sora also had a twin brother, Roxas, who had gone missing the day after the Queen, Lady Tifa, had died. Roxas hadn't been seen since then, although Xemnas figured it had to do with Roxas's severe depression problem.

Roxas and Lady Tifa were extremely close, much closer than Xemnas was with Lady Tifa, his own wife. So when the Queen passed away, Roxas probably ended up falling under depression much worse off than when his goldfish died. And a kidnapper seized this chance to kidnap Roxas to have Xemnas pay a ransom for him back. So far, no ransom had been issued…and Roxas was still missing…it had been 5 years since that day...

Sora was walking quickly down the halls towards the rooms where his father had said that the Princess was staying in. He had left Riku while his father was droning on and on about taking care of the kingdom to find the Princess.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't see a girl run straight into him.

"M-my Lord, I'm so sorry!" she gasped, brushing her red hair behind her ears.

"It's all right Princess Kairi. It's only Prince Sora," Saix stated calmly. Sora blinked and looked the girl over.

She was pretty; she had long red hair, deep blue eyes, a perfect body and a beautiful dress (that he figured was from Larxene's drawers).

"Oh, ah well…" she seemed even more nervous after that statement.

"Why don't we go walk around the garden?" Sora asked sheepishly, offering her his arm.

"Um…sure…My Lord!" she blushed furiously. She found the Prince quite charming, she adored his blue eyes and found his spiky brown hair amusing.

The new 'Princess' fascinated Sora; she was the only one that made him speechless. All of the other Princesses kept going on and on about wanting to marry their Prince Charming and what kind of dresses that they wanted for their wedding.

But Kairi was different, she didn't seem like one to brag and boast.

Sora was beginning to think that this was going to turn out to be a pretty good relationship.

Kairi thought that her luck and life were about to change…drastically…

None of them thought that their growing relationship would bloom into something more…meaningful…something more…_dangerous _and _exciting_.

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**There's the first chapter, please review on what you think needs improving. I'll try hard to put the next chapter out soon, but that all depends on if I know what to write (severe case of writer's block that hits at random times.)**

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Kingdom Hearts: Re-Cast: Snow Princess. Please Review!**

**edited 07/22/07**


	2. Larxene's Evil Plan

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Chapter 2- Larxene's Evil Plan

From then on, seeing Prince Sora and 'Princess' Kairi together was a common sight. Saix still followed Kairi around, while Riku took to getting all of Sora's chores done while he was out with Kairi.

Everyone seemed happy by the couple; everyone couldn't wait for the appointed day—when Prince Sora officially became King Xemnas's heir.

But someone _could_ wait for the appointed day. In fact, she despised the day that Prince Sora became the heir to the throne.

The Princess of Destiny, Larxene, otherwise known as the Princess of Disaster or the Princess of Bitches, was furious that she wasn't first in line to the throne.

Since she was the oldest daughter, she saw no reasoning to why her _younger_ brother should receive the throne. It had been Larxene's plan to have her younger brother, Roxas, kidnapped 5 years ago after her mother died. And even then, she had been unloved.

Queen Tifa hadn't paid as much attention to Larxene as she wanted to. Most of the Palace was quite sure that King Xemnas and Queen Tifa did _not_ like each other. But they were forced together due to the Queen's pregnancy.

Then Larxene had been born, and the two decided to work together to raise her. She was only 7 years old when the Queen became pregnant again. Larxene had been ignored most of the time while her mother had stayed in bed by the Palace Sorceress' orders.

The Sorceress, Aerith, had explained to the King that the Queen was carrying twins. She had been unsure of if they were boys or girls.

When her brothers were born, Larxene figured that she would get more attention; sadly, this was not true since her brothers demanded care 24/7. Especially Roxas, he cried nonstop, Sora cried often, but not nearly enough as Roxas.

Their mother had died after she had given birth to another child, a silvery haired baby girl, but the child later joined her after a few hours. Larxene had already decided that her brothers had to go if she wanted to rule the country of Destiny.

Roxas had been first; she had been tired of hearing him mope after their mother's death. She had hired her assassin, Marluxia, to kidnap the child and erase his memory with her memory-modifying potion. She didn't want to kill the boy, after all, she wanted to dispose of all the evidence and she didn't want to deal with a dead body that could lead straight back to her somehow.

She was been planning several attempts to get rid of Sora, but after Roxas had disappeared; Riku and her father had been keeping a close eye on him, making Marluxia's already hard job, impossible.

But now she had found a way to get rid of Sora. If he wasn't married by his 21st birthday, the throne would go directly to her.

"Marluxia," she said quietly. A figure in the corner behind her shifted quietly.

"My Princess?" a deep voice answered to her call.

"Marluxia, I want you to kidnap Princess Kairi. Take her into the woods and kill her," Larxene scowled in the mirror. Her blonde hair was cut short, exactly how she wanted it to be. After all, how could she do _anything _with hair that touched the floor? It made no sense to her whatsoever why Princesses' should have long hair.

"Of course, My Lady," Marluxia prepared to leave.

"Wait," Larxene stood up and opened her drawers. She pulled out a clear liquid in a potion bottle. "Give this to her. If she refuses, then force her to drink it." She handed the bottle to Marluxia.

"What does it do?" he lifted it up to his eye level.

"My brother's heart will be changed. He will no longer think of the woman," Larxene smiled.

"Uh, don't you have to give that to him then?" Marluxia asked. It didn't make any sense giving it to Kairi.

"No, it works on the man if you give it to the woman. My brother, once he feels the effects of the potion that the woman drank, then he'll instantly fall in love with whoever he was thinking at that moment, regardless of gender," Larxene smirked. "I can't wait to see who it is, I place my bets on Riku. What do you say?"

Marluxia sweatdropped and sighed, "My Lady, do you _enjoy_ thinking of these plans?"

"Of course! My brother is so _naïve_; I do what I can to make fun of him. It's interesting to see the results." Larxene laughed evilly.

"My Lady, you wish to _kill_ Lady Kairi?"

"I want her out of the way. It's only a few _days _from my brother's 21st birthday, I want her _gone._ I don't want her to show up in the middle of the celebration, saying 'Here I am, Let's get married, Sora!' I won't stand for that!"

"Of course, I'll bring Lady Kairi's heart back to you," Marluxia bowed before leaving the room.

"Always vicious, that assassin," Larxene chuckled as she twirled one of her kunai knives on her finger.

OoOoOoOoOo

Kairi was nervous; Sora had asked her to wait for him in the garden, he had said that he was going to tell her something important.

She worried that he was going to break-up with her. But she was also excited at the thought that he might be trying to propose to her. After all, Sora's 21st birthday was in 5 days.

But King Xemnas had told her secretly that they were going to get married regardless of the fact if Sora proposed to her or not.

"My Lady," one of the men that guarded the palace bowed down to her. He had pink hair and carried himself in a proper manner. His weapon was nowhere in sight, as Kairi came to learn, most of the guards could materialize their weapons.

"Uh…who are you?" Kairi felt embarrassed that she didn't know all of the guard's names.

"My name is Marluxia, My Lady. I was given the task to escort you to the forest." He bowed once more.

"For what?"

"To get flowers for your bouquet for the wedding," he answered. "The flowers in the palace probably don't suit your needs, Princess."

"Oh, but they're okay! Really!" she waved her hands in front of her. "I'm not complaining!"

"But King Xemnas preferred that you have more beautiful flowers, flowers only found in the forest," Marluxia pointed out.

"Oh, well…okay," she accepted his hand and he led her away from the palace grounds.

OoOoOoOoOo

"Kairi! Kairi!" Sora was wandering throughout the palace looking for his betrothed.

"Uh, My Lord?" Riku found Sora around the corner.

"Oh! There you are Riku!" Sora grabbed Riku by his shoulders and shook him. "Kairi's missing! I haven't seen her all day, and she wasn't in her rooms or where we normally are!"

"My Lord! Please relax! Saix is with him!" Riku yelped. Sora calmed down slightly before he looked over Riku's shoulder and shoved him aside.

"Saix! Where's Kairi!" Sora shouted, running up to the blue-haired man.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Saix stated in his always-calm voice. "I seemed to have lost her."

"The Princess is gone!" Sora screamed as he turned and started running towards his father's rooms.

"Stop this nonsense!" Xemnas had arrived just in time to catch his son by the collar and toss him backwards. "All right, does _anybody _know where Princess Kairi is?"

Riku, Sora, and Saix looked at one another before shaking their heads. Xemnas sighed.

"She might have run off," he leaned against the wall, rubbing his forehead. "A lot of them do that on the last week."

"Kairi would never to that!" Sora argued against that thought. "She said that she really likes it here!"

"But she could still leave without notice," Xemnas sighed. "Sora, you're enough trouble as it is."

"We need to start looking for her!" Sora ran off, Riku on his heels.

"Saix, please look for our missing Princess. She can't have gone too far. Sora probably just overlooked someplace. I bet she's just trying to get him to find her," Xemnas sighed before walking away.

"Of course, Your Majesty," Saix left quickly, making sure to head in the opposite direction from where Sora and Riku had taken off.

OoOoOoOoOo

"I'm tired!" Kairi flopped onto the grassy floor of the forest. Her escort, Marluxia leaned against the nearby tree, making sure that he kept her in his sight.

"Are you tired, Your Highness?" he asked after a long period of silence.

"No, just a bit thirsty," she laughed as she played with the flowers that she had picked. "These will look pretty in the Palace."

"Your Highness. Allow me," Marluxia dug in his pocket and handed her a small vial of clear liquid.

"Oh, thank you!" Kairi smiled at him and drank a small amount. "But won't you be thirsty yourself?"

"No, Princess. I brought that especially for you. Drink it all and refresh yourself."

"That's very generous," she only drank half of the bottle and handed it back to him. "You could keep this for yourself." Marluxia took it from her hesitantly, before bowing low to her.

"Thank you, Your Highness," he wept. "No one has ever been this…this kind!"

Kairi blushed, "It was nothing. Should we get going?" Marluxia nodded and she stood up.

Right when she stood up, she realized that something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Marluxia asked immediately, he saw her legs wobble.

"I-I don't feel—" Kairi fell to the ground, her eyes closed and her body went limp.

Slowly, Marluxia drew out the small bottle and looked at it before pouring the last of the contents down her throat. He summoned his weapon, a large flowery, pink scythe and looked down at her. Larxene's orders still ringing in his head.

He raised the scythe and prepared to swing it downwards, but something stopped him. Some supernatural power kept him from killing the unarmed Princess.

Finally, he ordered his scythe away and started walking away, muttering about a waste of his time.

When he left, a cloaked figure stepped out from behind a tree and walked towards Kairi. The figure lowered his hood, his black sideburns and braids clearly visible. His blue eyes looked over Kairi carefully, before he lifted her up and walked further into the forest.

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**There, Chapter 2 is finished, it might take longer for Chapter 3 to be done. But until then, Hope you liked and approved of this chapter.**

**Please Review!**

**edited 07/22/07**


	3. The Cottage That Never Was

**Thanks for all the reviews for the previous chapters! I'm really happy that people are enjoying reading this story as much as I have writing it (it's really interesting to think this all up in your head too).**

**This chapter will introduce more of the Organization XIII members, and start getting into the plot of Snow Princess. And I didn't realize this until now, but some parts of Beauty and the Beast are in here as well.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Kingdom Hearts, Snow White, or Beauty and the Beast. **

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**Chapter 3- The Cottage That Never Was**

Kairi opened her eyes and moaned quietly. She sat up and looked around at her surroundings. It was nighttime in the forest; moonlight was streaming through the open spaces between the trees.

Something warm and moist nudged her cheek. Turning her head to the right, she came face-to-face with a small deer.

"Oh! How cute!" she reached up and patted its head slowly and gently. The deer closed its eyes and nuzzled her in return.

"See! See! I _told_ you it was the Princess!" someone shouted very close to her ear. Kairi shrieked and struck whoever had just spoken.

"YEOW!" the voice screamed. Then, a fat furry rabbit bounced out of the bushes nearby and hopped up to her.

"Wow, you really are the Princess," the rabbit spoke up, causing Kairi to chuck the nearest rock at it.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hey, knock off the hitting! We mean no harm," a raggedly brown bird fluttered down on Kairi's shoulder.

"We just wanted to know if you were all right," the deer spoke up softly in a decidedly female voice. "My name's Olette. The rabbit is Pence, and the bird is Hayner."

"But why…why—"

"Are we talking?" the bird called Hayner asked dully. Kairi nodded vigorously. "Simple, this enchantress transformed us into these forms."

"But why?" Kairi looked from the bird, the rabbit, and the deer. "Why did she do that?"

"We were Prince Roxas's escorts!" Olette the deer, wailed. "We were following him when this assassin took him from his room! He put Roxas on the ground, turned around and found us! Then he threw some liquid on us and we turned into animals!"

"Roxas?" Kairi wasn't sure that she recognized that name, but it seemed pretty familiar.

"Prince Roxas! Prince Sora's younger twin brother!" Olette wailed again. "We failed them! WE FAILED OUR LORD ROXAS!"

"SHUT IT!" Hayner shrieked.

"Sora had a twin brother?" Kairi directed this question at Pence the rabbit. Olette was crying large pearly tears, and Hayner was yelling at her because of her tears.

"Yeah, you didn't know? Roxas was the Queen's favorite while Sora was the King's favorite," Pence told her. "When the Queen died, this assassin kidnapped Roxas and turned us into animals. Like Olette said."

"Oh, well…I guess I didn't know that," Kairi laughed. "I should have though, after all I'm going to marry soon----." She gasped and put her hands to her mouth.

"What are you trying to say?" Olette put her head on Kairi's shoulder.

"I'm trying to say----!!! -----!! I can't say it!" she seemed very close to tears. "Why can't I say his name?"

"Can you describe him?" Hayner asked. "Maybe we can recognize him. After all, we _did _live in the Palace of Destiny at one point."

"Um, he has----- hair, ----- eyes. And I think that his weapon is a------, just like Riku's," Kairi explained. She looked up hopefully at the three transformed animals, but they stared at her back, dumbfounded.

"I guess, she can't explain who her fiancé is," Olette sighed. "And I really wanted to know."

"Is there…is there a place that I could stay…for the night?" Kairi was beginning to feel sleepy once more. And she didn't really feel like sleeping out in the forest without any shelter.

"Sure. If you mind that is…" Pence replied slowly.

"What do you mean, 'if I mind'?" she asked curiously.

"Well, this place is called, The Cottage That Never Was. I don't know if you minded," Pence finished weakly.

"The Cottage That Never Was?" Kairi thought that was a stupid name. "Who names a cottage that?"

"They did," Olette answered.

"'They'?" she blinked.

"The ones who built the cottage of course," Hayner answered. "The Exiles."

Kairi didn't speak after that, she allowed Hayner, Pence, and Olette to take her to the Cottage That Never Was.

The cottage ended up being a normal looking cottage. Nothing different or unique about it in any way. The small cottage had straw on its room, and a small window next to the small metal pipe chimney. The walls looked like they were made of light gray stone with no ragged edges.

"Is this—"

"This is the place," Hayner flew forward and landed on the doorknob. "Come here, Your Highness."

Kairi went over and entered the cottage slowly. Once inside she had to stifle a loud gasp, the inside of the cottage was not as small as the outside. The inside was _huge_; there were two levels in the cottage, a kitchen, a living room, any room that she could think of.

"Who lives here?" she asked in awe as she started walking up the stairs slowly.

"The Exiles," Pence answered. When she continued to go up the stairs, he called up to her, "We can't follow you any further, please take care of yourself, Princess!"

Kairi didn't reply, she had reached the second landing and was looking around. She saw seven rooms; four were ordained with the symbol of Destiny (a Keyblade and four stars), two with the symbol of Twilight (the Nobody symbol with one diamond on each side), and one with a symbol that Kairi didn't recognize (a huge flame surrounded by shooting stars).

She reached out and opened one of the doors with the symbol of Destiny and entered. The room was pretty spacious, everything was blue, the large blue bed caught Kairi's attention and she realized how tired she really was.

Acting upon instinct, she slid onto the bed and curled up on top of the blankets, too tired to do anything else.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Kairi's gone!" Sora wailed. He was sitting on the fountain in the Destiny Garden.

"My Lord, we'll find her. Leave it all to me," Riku bowed low in front of Sora.

"Personally, I hope that she hasn't entered the forest. After all, the Exiles won't give any mercy to a girl, especially a Princess," Saix crossed his arms. He had been ordered to keep an eye on Sora and Riku.

"Nooo! What if she _did_?" Sora cried out. "Then she'll _never_ return!"

"My Lord, I'll go look for her!" Riku stood up and ran off quickly, intending to summon as many search parties as he could.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Daylight was streaming through the open window when Kairi awoke once more. She sat up and panicked, she had no idea where she was.

Then the aftermath of the previous day set in and she relaxed. She was in the Cottage That Never Was, home to the Exiles. And at the moment, she was sitting on the bed belonging to one of the Exiles from Destiny.

"She's awake!" an exited voice cried out.

"One…two…three…POUNCE!" another voice crowed, and Kairi had a split second to see two bodies rush up to her and knock her on the bed. There were a lot of shouts, many coming from the person who had first spoken. Kairi was in the midst of ripping the blonde hair off the second person when another person entered the room.

"What is going _on_ in here?" a man with red hair bellowed.

"Axel, she tried to hurt me!" the blonde boy wailed. Kairi saw that his hair was all flattened on one side and found it a strange sight to see.

"Ah, Roxas, I'm sure she didn't mean to…" the blonde boy clamored off the bed and scurried behind his protector.

"Who are you?" Kairi demanded. "And why did you suddenly try to…jump me?"

"We are the Exiles. People banished from all three kingdoms," a man with silvery blue hair spoke up from the side. His hair covered his right eye, but he had an air of intellect around him.

"We've been living here for a long time. Did you know that this forest is actually in the middle of the three kingdoms as well?" another man with long blonde hair spoke up this time.

"Uh, no?" Kairi felt stupid and annoyed by this group of men.

"Whatever, all randomness aside. The name's Axel. A-X-E-L, got it memorized?" the man with spiky red hair and markings under his eyes walked forward. "Move Demyx." Another blonde person, this time his hair was in a mullet, quickly jumped off of the bed.

"My name is…" Kairi faltered. Then she continued, "Tifa. M-my name's Tifa." It was the first name that came into her head.

"You don't look like the Queen of Destiny," the blonde boy who had been called 'Roxas' before spoke up this time.

"I-I'm not," Kairi faltered again. "I'm not the Queen. Why would I be?"

"Because only the Royal Family has the right to that name. Think about it, wouldn't it seem funny if someone other than the Queen was named Tifa?" Axel waved his hand. "You are not the deceased Queen Tifa."

"So, what's your real name?" the one called Demyx asked, leaning slightly towards her.

"K-Keri," Kairi tried again.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. For a Princess, you're pretty bad at lying," Axel waved his hand up in the air exasperatedly.

"I-I'm not—"

"Come on, just say your name's Kairi," he groaned.

"How did—how did you—" Axel waved her off.

"Not important. What's important is how you got out here. We'll take you back home soon, but for now, you're staying with us. Understand?"

"S-sure," Kairi nodded slowly.

"No stuttering!" Demyx waggled his finger at her. "Be a good girl!"

"Where's Xigbar?" Axel grumbled as he turned and left the room, they could still hear him talking in the hallway. "Hey Xiggy!"

"My name is _not_ Xiggy!" someone roared from a room nearby. "It's Xigbar, thank you very much!"

"Make breakfast, Xiggy! We have a guest!"

"Shut up!" there was round of gunfire and Axel came back, his clothes slightly burnt.

"Just missed," he grinned. "Now, Kairi, what brings you here to the Cottage That Never Was?"

"Just arrived. Got lost in the forest," she answered looking over each of the men.

"Oh, introductions. I hate those things! Anyway, I'm Axel as you already know, the blonde with his hair all plastered up on one side is Roxas, mullet-man is Demyx, Zexion is the one with the silver blue hair, Lexaeus has the reddish brown hair—he's the big one—, Vexen has long blonde hair, and you'll meet Luxord and Xigbar later on, they're going to make breakfast now."

Kairi looked around the room that she was in. She had already noticed that everything was blue, and adding to that fact, there were goldfish tanks and musical notes all over the place.

"This is Demyx's room. The Water baby's," Roxas rolled his eyes. "He likes everything that has to do with water and music. It gets annoying when he starts playing for no reason in the middle of the night or something."

"What do you play?" she turned to Demyx.

"A sitar," the musician said proudly. "Do you want to hear a song that I started?"

"Maybe another time. Axel, what are we going to do about _her_?" Zexion cut in quickly, agreeing with the other housemates that Demyx playing his sitar could wait.

"Well, we could send her away once we finish breakfast. She doesn't really have a right to stay here," Vexen remarked.

"N-no! I-I could wash the dishes, and clean the house!" Kairi cried out quickly, not wishing to end up outside once more. After all, before she had entered the Destiny Palace, she was a servant.

Axel paced the room, taking both ideas into deep consideration.

"We'll let her stay. As long as she cleans up for us," he ordered. Cheers were heard around the room. Everyone but Vexen had a look of glee on their faces (with an exception of Lexaeus and Zexion).

"Well, let's go eat!" Demyx punched the air happily. "Kairi! Can you sit next to me?"

"Sure," Kairi managed a small smile for the most immature member. "But, uh…what's for breakfast?"

"Fried Luxord on a stick. Xiggy was talking about roasting him alive yesterday," Axel answered. Kairi gasped. "I'm joking! Okay! We wouldn't really eat another Exile! Unless they seemed really tasty…"

Her mouth fell open in shock as she followed them down the winding staircase. Just like the cottage, there was more to the Exiles than appeared.

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**There's the third chapter of Snow Princess! Thanks ****soraloveskairi159****Inconnu****, and ****KHKairiNamineFanatic**** for the reviews!!! I hope you liked this chapter as well!! For some help the Seven Exiles are (1) Axel, (2) Zexion, (3) Xigbar, (4) Vexen, (5) Demyx, (6) Lexaeus, and (7) Luxord. Roxas isn't really an Exile; he just lives with them for the time being. **

**The fourth chapter might take a lot longer, but who knows? It all depends if I can pull off another creativity streak.**

**Please Review!**


	4. The Country of Radiance

**Thanks for the reviews on chapter 3 ****KHKairiNamineFanatic,** **soraloveskairi159, and Rinny87.**

**sorry this chapters a lot later than the others ones, i couldn't think of what to write in this section.**

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Chapter 4- The Country of Radiance 

It was the strangest breakfast that Kairi had even been at. The Exiles ate more food than was humanly possible. She had been introduced to both Xigbar and Luxord, and was quiet relieved to see that Luxord was _not_ fried and on a stick. Although, now she knew to be wary around Xigbar (whom she nicknamed 'Mr. Eye patch' in her mind).

They also had long conversations, and it wasn't long before all of the conversations were turned towards her.

"So Kairi, where did you come from?" the man that she now took for Demyx asked.

"You idiot!" Axel shouted. "We already told you! She's _Princess_ Kairi from Destiny!"

"Just wanted to make sure," Demyx whined.

"So um…how do you become an Exile?" Kairi asked quietly.

"We become an Exile if we're banished or we leave our countries," Vexen answered the question this time. "I think only Xigbar was banished from the country of Destiny. The rest of us left voluntarily."

"Why was he…uh…"

"Banished?" Zexion asked. He didn't give her time to respond but continued on in a dull manner. "He was banished because he kept shooting innocent civilians." Kairi had a shocked look on her face.

"Xigbar, Lexaeus, Demyx, and Luxord all came from Destiny. Vexen, and Zexion came from Twilight. And I came from Radiance," Axel explained.

"Radiance? The Forbidden City?" Kairi asked suddenly.

She had only heard about the country in stories. From what her parents had told her, the princess of the country had vanished and had been missing for several years. The country had fallen into disarray, finally falling and the line of Radiance was extinguished.

"That very one. Luckily I left that city before it actually crumbled. I would have been in that mess," Axel ran his fingers through his spiky red hair.

"Selfish bastard," Vexen grumbled. Roxas caught Kairi's eye and rolled his eyes.

"Did you meet Sora?" he asked changing the subject.

"I don't think so," Kairi responded quickly. "At least, I don't _remember_…"

"What do you mean, you don't remember?" Roxas asked. "It's not hard to remember that you met the Prince, right?"

"Probably not," Kairi was embarrassed. "I'm only a maid, I wouldn't have the chance to grace His Highness."

"Well, you're gracing His Highness," Axel spoke up. He had been listening in on their conversation. "Roxas is Sora's twin brother. He's been living here because of some crazy sorceress that wants to take over the world didn't like him."

"You know, Axel. That 'crazy sorceress that wants to take over the world' is Roxas's sister, Larxene," Xigbar remarked. It took a few minutes for that comment to actually register into Axel's mind before he let out a shriek.

"ROXAS! YOUR OWN SISTER WANTS YOU?!" he hollered.

"Shut up, Axel! You know why she's after me! I told you when that potion wore off!" Roxas roared.

"True," he said, quieting down.

"Potion?" Kairi asked. Luxord turned towards her. Of all of the Exiles, he seemed to be the most normal out of them all, apart from the fact that he seemed to be obsessed about games with cards, dice, or time limits.

"You see, the Princess Larxene likes to brew potions. Not very nice ones mind you. I would think that one of the most common potions around has to be her memory-altering potion. Very nasty piece of work that she had right there; drink it and all your memories will be wiped, depending on what she wants. Roxas ended up with a potion that wiped his entire memory. Luckily the effects went away after a few weeks," Luxord explained.

"Well, if your memory is back, then why don't you return back to your home?" Kairi asked.

"Hey Princess? Hence the name: Exiles. Why do you think we're named that?" Xigbar tapped his chest.

"But Roxas is important!" Kairi cried out. "He's the Prince of Destiny. He _should _return!"

"He's not first-in-line," Zexion stated, drinking tea from a mug with the symbol of Twilight on it. "Sora is first-in-line if he marries by his 21st birthday. Destiny works that way."

"But Prince Sora's birthday is in 5 days, he has to be married by then!" Kairi cried out.

"4 days. Prince Sora's birthday is in 4 days," Lexaeus spoke up for the first time.

"Well, he is engaged to a girl. But she kind of disappeared yesterday, so they don't know where she went. But there are several WANTED posters around," Roxas waved his hands. "But if Sora doesn't marry in 4 days, then the throne goes to Larxene, and it's bye-bye to me!"

"She already knows you're alive, she had all of the chances in the world to kill you, what's the use of wasting time after she becomes ruler?" Vexen rolled his eyes. "That doesn't make any sense of why she would waste energy to get you out of her way."

"That lecture you just gave us didn't make any sense anyway," Demyx helped himself to another piece of sausage and managed to dump another load of eggs onto Kairi's plate.

"Wait! I can't eat all of this—"

Demyx giggled madly, "It's only a little bit." Kairi turned red and looked down at her plate once again.

"You know Kairi, you do look like the Princess that Sora's going to marry. You know that right?" Axel asked.

"No—I—I can't be! She's a whole different class!" Kairi turned another shade of red and started eating quickly, not wishing to speak again.

"I heard that the Princess goes around telling people that she's a maid, not a Princess. But she has the upbringing like a true ruler," Axel leaned over to Roxas and 'whispered' this information.

"I'm not a Princess!" she cried out standing up angrily. Her face was red. "I've_ never_ met the Prince. And I won't marry him if I never saw him!"

"Whatever, let's just get off this 'Royalty' stuff, it's starting to give me a headache," Xigbar rolled his eye and helped himself to another cup of orange juice.

"Just because you were banished from your Kingdom doesn't mean that you shouldn't pay attention to the news!" Vexen snapped.

"Well, he _is_ the only one to get banished by the Kingdoms. The rest of us just ran for it," Demyx pointed out. He himself had became too 'excited' during Queen Tifa's funeral and had started a humongous downpour of water and had ran for it when King Xemnas had turned to him. Since he hadn't returned after a month, he became an 'exile' in everyone's mind.

"Axel, why _did_ you get banished from Radiance?" Roxas asked. "You never told us."

"Well, let's just say that the Princess' bodyguard didn't really like me from the beginning. He just needed a reason to kick me out. And I guess burning his robes just went over the line and I found myself staring at the gates of Radiance," Axel placed his feet on the table and didn't remove them, even when Vexen tried to stab him with a fork.

"How unlucky," Kairi said coldly. Personally, she didn't understand why these men had even tried to do what they did in the first place. Why would they set someone on fire for the fun of it? Why would they drown all of the guests at a very important funeral? And why would they shoot innocent civilians to cure boredom?

Kairi was beginning to think that the Pence the rabbit had been right, the Exiles were people you _did not_ want to mess with…

OoOoOoOo

**Back to the Palace of Destiny…**

"WHAT?!" a scream of rage penetrated the peaceful silence of the palace. Many of the doves that were roosting in the garden flew up in sudden fright. The servants stopped what they were doing for a few minutes as they tried to figure out where the sound had come from.

Larxene was pacing her bedroom. Marluxia was standing at the door quietly, he had just told her what had happened in the forest.

"You mean to tell me that the wretched girl is _alive_?" Larxene hissed. Thankfully her voice had lowered quite a few octaves down. Marluxia didn't have the need to cover his ears anymore.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. But when I tried to kill her, I was blocked by a powerful spell. I left her on the forest floor, but when I came back an hour later, she had vanished.

"Do you think she could have woken up?" she asked in a deadly whisper.

"No. Your Majesty's potions are extremely powerful. They would have stronger effects on the weak minded. Princess Kairi shouldn't have woken up. If she did, she didn't get too far before she fell down again and I walked far looking for her."

"Someone moved her," Larxene scowled. "Someone followed you into the forest, Marluxia!"

"I didn't hear anyone. Trust me Your Majesty, with the element Flower, I could listen to all of the plants and trees. They told me that no one followed me into the forest except for Princess Kairi, nothing else. But they did tell me that an abnormal amount of wind blasted through the forest during my 'walk'."

"Wind…hm…a girl who doesn't believe she's a princess…hm…" Larxene sat down on her chair and started thinking.

"Your Highness?" Marluxia asked blankly. "I don't follow…"

"Of course you don't. Only the ones who know about the Forbidden City will understand. Hm…the witness _did_ say that the Princess went missing…a strange wind…it matches the exact description of the Princess's bodyguard's power," she counted on her fingers.

"So you're saying that Princess Kairi might be the heir to the Forbidden City?" he asked.

"No, I'm saying that she's the heir to the Kingdom of Radiance," Larxene shot back. "Honestly, you Assassins should be more knowledgeable about the stories surrounding the three Kingdoms."

"Your Highness, I'm afraid that I'm only hired help," Marluxia stated quietly. "I only learn the techniques that Assassins need to do their job."

"Well, then at least you should know about the three Kingdoms," Larxene snapped as she stood up and walked into her bathroom. The door slammed shut, and Marluxia let out a long sigh of relief.

He hadn't been punished yet.

OoOoOoOoOo

Kairi stumbled around the forest unhappily. The Exiles had been no help at all. Once they had turned the conversation onto her, they had bombarded her with questions that she couldn't answer.

She was sure that she wasn't a Princess. She had been born to a low wage family that died of a plague quite recently. There was no way that she could have been a Princess.

"Kairi?" a soft quiet voice called out to her from behind the bushes.

"Who is it?" Kairi hesitated and put up a fighting stance, the only way that she knew how to protect herself.

"It's me," a small deer walked into the clearing. "Olette."

"Oh, hello," she bent down to the deer's height and smiled.

"You're not happy?" the deer laid down on the grass. Kairi sighed and lowered herself onto the soft greenery.

"All of the Exiles keep saying that I'm a Princess. But I _can't _be, can I?" she turned towards Olette hopefully.

The deer didn't answer. Instead, she turned her head towards the rustling in the bushes behind her. Kairi gasped and jumped in alarm when a cloaked man stepped out into the clearing behind Olette.

"Be silent, Kairi!" Olette warned. "He won't hurt you. It would be against orders."

"Orders?" Kairi sat up and looked at the man. His black braids were tied up in a messy ponytail, and he had messy sideburns to add to the description. In all, he just _looked _dangerous. Like a serial killer on the loose.

"This is Xaldin, the Head of the Royal Guard in Radiance. He is also the sole bodyguard of the Princess of Radiance—You."

"Me?" she pointed at herself and looked at Olette and then back at Xaldin. "Wait. WHAT?!"

"Princess?" Xaldin sweatdropped as he watched Kairi run around squealing.

"Uh-uh, no way, N-O!" she waved her hands in front of her. "I am not a Princess!"

"That didn't fool the King of Destiny," he remarked dully.

"Then there's something wrong with all of the people that said I'm a Princess!" Kairi was now pulling out her hair. "I—AM—NOT—A—PRINCESS!"

"Well, that red hair of yours is uncommon isn't it?" Xaldin pointed at her hair.

"So what? Axel had red hair!" she shouted. There was a long pause after this comment.

"You mean your 'uncle'?" he asked blankly.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

OoOoOoOoOo

"What was that?" Sora asked looking in the direction of the forest.

"No idea, sir," Riku was holding Sora's giant Destiny Keyblade (Kingdom Key). "It's probably that stupid raven that likes to hear itself talk."

"You mean the one that belongs to the evil sorceress that my father locked in a mirror and gave to Larxene?" Sora asked. "What was her name again?"

"I forgot. Something really stupid though…" Riku rolled his eyes. "My Lord, you need to go practice with your sister today."

"Aw man! She'll kill me for sure now! I heard her servants complaining about the noise that she makes when she sharpens her kunai knives!"

"You feel my sorrow," Riku patted Sora on the back sympathetically.

OoOoOoOo

"Mirror, Mirror, oh _Stupid_ Mirror, on the _stupid and useless_ wall, who is the most _evilest_ one of all?" Larxene glared at the mirror that her father had handed to her for her 12th birthday. He had seemed quite glad to be rid of it too.

"It is I, Maleficent, the Witch of Darkness, the Queen of Disaster, the Rebel against Light, the—"

"Whatever," Larxene rolled her eyes. "Tell me if my potion is working!"

"Potions? You use _Potions_?!" the witch cackled with laughter. "HAH! I WOULD USE MY _DARK _MAGIC!! THE MOST POWERFULEST MAGIC IN THE WORLD! HA HA HA!! ALL OF MY HENCHMEN WILL BOW DOWN TO ME WHEN I FINALLY DEFEAT THE KING OF DESTINY! I'LL MAKE HIM SORRY THAT HE EVER SEALED ME! HA HA HA!!"

"Uh…okay…can you just answer my _question_?!" Larxene was at a boiling point, she clutched her kunai knives tightly, her eyes narrowed in anger, smoking pouring from her ears.

"I'LL TAKE AWAY HIS THRONE AND MAKE HIM BEG FOR FORGIVNESS ON HIS _KNEES_!!! NO, ON HIS KNESS WITHOUT HIS CROWN OR THRONE!! HA HA HA!! SOON EVERYONE WILL BE SINGING MY NAME!!"

"_That's it!" _Larxene threw a whole handful of her kunai knives at the mirror. They all bounced off harmlessly. Finally she walked forward and yanked the mirror off of the wall and tossed it out the window as far as she could.

"I'LL PUT UP MY NAME IN _GOLD LETTERING_!! BEAT THAT, YOU STUPID, ARROGANT—WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING-?!!" she screamed as the mirror went flying.

Larxene watched the mirror flying into blue sky and disappear in a small twinkle in the sky. She wore a smug look on her face and stayed at the window for a long time.

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**That's the end of chapter 4! Hope everyone liked that! Sorry that there wasn't much information on Sora and Kairi's relationship. But there is some Maleficent bashing in this chapter, which is good enough for me (no offense, Maleficent fans).**

**Please Review!!**

edited 08/17/08


	5. Suprise ATTACK!

**Sorry it took so long, I was busy in school and last minute summer assignments. But anyway, here's the next chapter, one month late.**

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**Chapter 5- **_**Surprise ATTACK!**_

"No way! No way! No! No! NO!" Kairi shrieked, running around in circles again. Both Xaldin and Olette were watching her with mixed emotions.

"Are you going to stop her?" Olette asked, as they watched Kairi run in the background.

"Later, when she runs out of energy and her anger cools," Xaldin answered. "She'll be easier to talk to."

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"ACHOO!" Axel sneezed, causing a whole cloud of dust to fly up from his bed.

"Uh, Axel, you feeling alright? If you have a cold, that's a bad thing, because Vexen likes to experiment on medicines that would get rid of colds instantly," Roxas was seated on the floor at the foot of Axel's bed.

"No, it's nothing," Axel flipped another page of his book, shivering slightly. He didn't want Vexen to test _anything_ on his body.

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"Axel's my uncle?" Kairi had finally calmed down. She was sitting down on the grass, panting and drinking the water that Xaldin had offered her.

"So it would seem," the cloaked man sighed. "He's so useless. But since he and I are the only ones left to protect you, I need his help."

"Ah, geez. Family relationships are _so_ difficult!" Olette sighed and rolled around the grass. "Next thing you know, the father or mother walks into this…"

"Where are my parents?" she asked suddenly.

"I don't know."

"Do you know where any members of my family are except Axel?"

"No," Xaldin turned and walked away from her. "You must stay with the Exiles, Princess. You'll be safe there." He disappeared in the darkness of the forest.

"Wait!" Kairi ran forward.

"You won't be getting anymore information off of him," Olette commented. "He doesn't say much. Like I said before, the only thing he's in charge of is protecting you."

"But doesn't he have to answer all of my questions?" she demanded.

"What if you were being watched at the moment, which you are," the deer turned her head and looked behind her at Kairi.

"Huh?" she turned and looked at Olette. "Who's watching me?"

"I'm not sure. I can't tell if they're a danger or not—"

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our runaway Princess," somebody spoke out of the darkness as if mocking Kairi.

"Who are you?" she shouted at the area where the voice had come from.

"_You_ of all people should know who I am," a woman stepped out from behind a tree. She had blonde hair that was fixed rather strangely, kind of like a bug's antennae. She was wearing tight black clothes, and in her right hand, she held yellow and green kunai knives. "_You_ were supposed to marry my '_beloved_' brother!"

"Be careful, Kairi! That's—" a thunderbolt flew out of the woman's hand and struck Olette, sending her flying backwards into another tree in the forest.

"Olette!" Kairi shouted.

"Why are you calling her to save you? She's just an ordinary deer. She cannot help you in the position she's in."

"Kairi!" a raggedy brown bird landed on her shoulder. "Kairi, run for it!" Hayner screeched.

"Yeah, what Hayner said," Pence the rabbit hopped out from the bushes and jumped towards her. "Run, Kairi, Run!"

Kairi took the suggestion to heart and ran, turning her back on the Thunder woman behind her.

"Heh, you can't run from me!" the woman ran forward and in a flash of light, appeared in front of Kairi.

"AHHH!" she screamed and she stopped running and ran down a different path, trying to avoid their pursuer.

"There's no running a different way either!" her laughed resonated in her ear. Her voice was filled with cruelty. "I like guys with a lot of action, ones that could challenge me, but I like torturing their women even more!"

"She's a witch!" Hayner howled. "Save us, someone!"

"Just keep running!" Olette ran ahead, darting through the bushes and in between trees quite easily. She had been revived from her shocked state by Pence.

"Easy for you to say, Miss. Four-Hooves!" Hayner flew behind the group. His wings were small and ragged, making it much harder for him to fly at a fast speed.

"She's coming closer!" Pence screamed, clinging on to Kairi's clothes.

"DUCK!" Olette screamed suddenly. At once, they all hit the ground. Even Hayner who had been flying pretty high up in the air, hit the ground and rolled onto his back, playing dead.

Kairi looked up and saw something white fly over her head with a small tinkle. The woman shouted behind her, and two objects collided with a loud '_clang'._

"What's happening?" she started to get up but something slammed into the ground in front of her head so she laid back down on the grassy floor.

"A Keyblade?" Olette gasped. Kairi looked up again. Sitting in the grass, the handle pointing straight into the sky, was a white Keyblade.

"Who does it belong to?" she asked quickly. Olette didn't answer; she wasn't even looking at Kairi anymore.

"It's the _Oathkeeper_!" she breathed. A shadow fell on her. "Lord Roxas!"

"Huh?" Kairi was pulled to her feet. Without thinking, she drew back her first and struck the person in the face.

"OUCH! Stupid woman! I just saved you, why the hell are you hitting me for?!" a familiar voice roared.

"Roxas?" Kairi stood up and looked at her rescuer. It was indeed Roxas, (as Kairi was slow since Olette had shouted beforehand) although now he was holding his right eye, as Kairi had socked him there.

"So glad of you to notice," Roxas grumbled, rubbing his eye.

"What was all that commotion about?" to Kairi's surprise and uttermost shock, Axel stepped out of the trees and into the clearing. He seemed to be armed as well; two bright red chakrams were in his hands.

"My sister," Roxas turned and spoke to his friend. "But she's gone now."

"Good," he dismissed his weapons immediately. Roxas walked forward and yanked his white Oathkeeper Keyblade out of the grass and dismissed it.

"Did you follow us?" Kairi accused.

"Princess, please don't accuse Lord Roxas of following!" Olette drew herself up. "Lord Roxas is far to _proud,_ too_ noble_, too—"

"Yeah, we followed you," he answered bluntly.

"My Lord!" Olette wailed, sinking into the grass in shock.

"We heard screaming and some weird lady shouting. But Roxas got here first and got rid of her," Axel explained.

"By the way. What _were _you doing out here anyway? And in the company of three of the weirdest talking animals in the forest," Roxas looked over Hayner the bird, Pence the rabbit, and Olette the deer.

Olette wailed some more and started banging her head on the nearest tree.

"You don't recognize us?" Pence asked.

"If I did I would have known immediately."

"We're your escorts! Hayner, Pence, and Olette, Lord Roxas!" Hayner cried out shrilly. "Don't you remember?"

"But you're animals…"

"He doesn't remember us…" Olette turned her back on the group and moped.

"Olette's lost it," Hayner remarked as they watched her.

"We were transformed when we chased after you. This assassin had you and he threw some liquid on us that changed us this way…" Pence explained.

"Well, your forms suit your personalities…now that I think about it," Roxas put his hand on his chin in deep thought.

"I want to go home!" Olette wailed, banging her front hooves on the ground in despair.

"I know," Roxas walked over and patted her head. It was an awkward scene to watch. "We'll be heading over there sometime later, but not now."

"Yeah, once Miss. Princess decides when she'll go back to Sora. Then we'll just tag along with her," Axel pointed his thumb at Kairi. "And then maybe we'll ditch her at the Castle Gates. Yeah, that sounds cool—" a purple lance flew by his head and crashed into the tree behind him.

"Uh…" there was a moment of silence as Axel walked over and looked at the purple, shark-shaped lance.

"Xaldin." He turned where the lance had flown from and threw one of his chakrams at the area. "Why are you throwing your lances at me? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"I didn't like your face. It's too stupid to look at," Xaldin stepped out of the trees, having used his other lance and smash Axel's weapon on the ground. "It'll blind the Princess."

"Why you—" the two threw their weapons at each other, a full onslaught of attacks at once. Axel set his chakrams on fire and threw them at Xaldin, who easily repelled them with a gust of wind. Then he sent six lances flying at Axel, each getting blown away by the fireballs thrown by the enraged redhead.

"We should stop them!" Kairi waved her arms. "We have to stop them!"

"Let them fight," Roxas rolled his eyes. "Boys will be boys, you know."

"But aren't you—" she looked over at Roxas.

"Anyway! Let's get back to the house!" Roxas shouted, interrupting her comment quickly, realizing what he just said.

"And leave them here?" she asked blankly. Their weapons were now discarded on the ground as they both attacked each other, punch-by-punch, kick-by-kick.

"They'll be fine," he said dryly. "Come on, Hayner, Pence, Olette." All five of them walked out of the clearing, heading back to the Cottage that Never Was.

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**Thanks for reading everyone! Sadly, this won't be a very long story, but hopefully it'll be good enough despite it's shortness!**

**Please Review! BYE! -chanchi76**

**edited 09/15/07**


	6. The Family 'Reunion'

**Thanks everyone for reviewing :D. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones. So let's give it a try.

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**Chapter 6- The Family 'Reunion'**

"You know, I really don't mind of Kairi stays here…but why is Xaldin now _living _with us now?!" Axel slammed his bowl down and glared at the man across the table.

"I have to protect the Princess from the gay likes of you," Xaldin replied, eating as if nothing bothered him. Kairi was sitting in between Xaldin and Roxas, deciding that it was probably better to have the blonde than the redhead.

"Why you—I should burn you here and now!" he jumped up, chakrams in hand.

"We're eating lunch, Axel, put those _stupid_ things away!" Vexen snapped.

"And if you don't…then you'll know what's coming up," Zexion added softly, causing a chill to go through the room. Axel sat down and resumed his meal; occasionally throwing paranoid looks over at Zexion's side of the table.

"That was easy," Luxord spoke up. "That's the first time something like that happened here. Usually it takes several threats on Zexion's side to make him shut up."

"Well, he _did_ go through one of the more recent experiments," Roxas lowered his bowl to speak. "He was the guinea pig." Soft "_ah_'s" were heard around the room and everyone continued their meal.

"Geez, it really is me against the world," the redhead grumbled, now picking at his food and stealing looks over at Zexion and now Vexen.

"Oh! Oh! 'Me Against the Music'!  
_All my people on the floor  
Let me see you dance  
Let me see ya  
All my people wantin' more—_"

"Shut UP, Demyx!" half the table roared. That 'half' of the table included, Xigbar, Axel, Roxas, and Vexen.

"But—" the teen wilted as four pairs of narrowed eyes turned in his direction.

Kairi nibbled at her food, not really wanting to eat but hungry at the same time.

"Kairi, what's wrong?" Pence the rabbit jumped up on the table next to her. Hayner had been banned from the table before the meal started and was now sitting on the rafters sulkily. Olette was sitting under the table, her small head leaning up against Roxas's leg, Roxas now had his hand lying on top of her head and she was content.

"Nothing. Everything's fine!" she said a little bit _too_ enthusiastically.

"Should I run an experiment on her?" Vexen asked, one of his eyebrows rose in mild confusion.

"Stay—away—from—her." Both Axel and Xaldin said at the exact same time. They both had their knives in hand.

"Yes but, that's not _normal _behavior for a—"

"For a _what_?" Xaldin stood up, one of his lances floated up near his head. Vexen shrank in his chair, but that didn't save him from the man's wrath. Xaldin walked forward, grabbed the scientist by the scruff of his neck and literally tossed him out the window.

Unluckily for Vexen, just right outside that _particular_ window was a garbage dump for their daily trash (yes they get trash pickup). His yells were heard through the window.

"Well, that gets rid of him," Axel remarked as Xaldin sat back down, brushing his hands off to get the 'scientist cooties' off.

"What are we going to do now?" Xigbar summoned one of his duo guns and started twirling it on his finger carelessly. "Since the Princess got here, we've been going through a lot of weird stuff."

"We should try to attack Destiny," Luxord suggested. "That's where our main problem is."

"Kairi, do you remember anything?" Roxas turned his head and looked at the silent redhead. She looked up and slowly shook her head.

"I've just been getting small flashbacks, but none of them are helping me. I try to reach out and grasp them but they keep getting farther and farther away."

"They'll come back in time," Roxas promised. "Do you remember Sora?"

"Yeah. About that much. I _did_ meet Sora while I was at Destiny. But I still don't know why I'm here and not here and why I met Sora in the first place."

"Well, you got about a week, then we start planning our attack strategy. 8 of us should be able to take down a lot of the castle," Axel folded his arms across his chest.

"Eight?" heads went up.

"There are seven of us already, then there's Roxas. But then there's Xaldin and Kairi. That makes 10," Zexion looked over at Axel.

"Who said Kairi and Roxas were going to fight?" Axel asked mysteriously.

"It's obvious that they will. It'll be hard trying to tell them that they can't," Xigbar rolled his one good eye. "Just let them fight. Or what they call 'fighting'."

"Hey! I could fight as well as you could!" Roxas sat up and glared at Xigbar.

"That's not the point—"

"Aw, just let it go, Zexy. There's nothing wrong with it," Demyx interrupted, speaking with his mouth full.

"He's right you know," Lexaeus spoke for the first time. Kairi turned and looked around the table, startled.

"Who said that?" she asked.

"Lexaeus," Axel and Zexion answered together.

"Lexaeus," her eyes fell on the large man sitting across from Zexion. "Oh, Lexaeus!"

"Now that that's settled, what should we do to pass the time?" Xigbar asked, pushing his plate away from him.

"Let's play with Vexen's potions!" Demyx shouted excitedly. There was a low murmur of approval.

"Huh? Vexen's potions? Why are you playing with chemicals that could kill you?" Kairi demanded almost immediately.

"They're not really bad for you, really. All you do is transform into some kind of animal for an hour or less, it's really interesting because none of the bottles are labeled so you could be any type of animal," Luxord explained.

"Isn't that dangerous?" she wasn't quite sure if drinking unlabeled potions coming from a mad scientist's lab was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Vexen will fix it," Xigbar laughed. "He has to, unless he wants a death wish."

"Huh?" Kairi was confused now. If they were dying, what threat were they to the scientist after all?

"Well, to put into simpler words," Roxas finished his lunch. "Vexen can't cook to save his life, just put it in those terms."

"And he can't clean, we do all of that for him," Zexion somehow had a book materialize in his hand and started reading.

"In other words, he's toast without us doing everything for us. The only thing he's useful for is making medicine and shape-shifting potions that gives Demyx something fun to do when we don't want him bothering us," Axel laughed.

"Hey Axel, are you really the chick's uncle?" Xigbar asked, leaning lazily on the table.

"Don't call her that." Both Xaldin and Axel growled.

"Wow," Roxas moved his chair a little farther away from Kairi. If something happened to Kairi, then he didn't want to be punished for doing nothing.

"So, should we go?" Demyx stuck his finger in the air proudly a light bulb floating above his finger.

"Sure." The table started emptying. Lexaeus looked over at Zexion, who was still reading his giant book before excusing himself and leaving the table.

Zexion remained the only one in the dining room, reading calmly, until the door opened and Vexen stomped in angrily, smelling strongly of garbage.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked grumpily. Zexion looked up and immediately covered his nose with his hand.

"What?"

"Can you please take a shower?" he asked simply, shutting his book and dismissing it.

"Huh?" he looked down at himself then back a Zexion. "Oh. Yeah. I'll go do that." He left, and Zexion opened a window to let clean air come into the room.

OoOoOoOoOo

Down in the basement, was Vexen's lab. It was pretty neat and clean for a mad scientist's lab, but it was unbearably cold.

Right when she stepped in, her breath froze at once and fell to the ground with a small crash.

"I'll fix it," Axel muttered as they all entered the small room. Within minutes, the room was warm enough to be in comfortably.

"Stupid Vexen, why does he like the cold so much?" Xigbar asked as they all watched Demyx run forward to a table laden with different bottles.

Demyx grabbed 5 and ran back to them, handing a bright purple bottle to Axel, brown for Xigbar, green for Luxord, yellow for Roxas, and keeping a nice looking blue for himself.

"This stuff doesn't look too good," Xigbar raised his own bottle up into the light. His was a murky brown color, "Quite nasty to look at."

"Yeesh, Demyx, get us better colored ones next time," Axel was holding his purple bottle in his outstretched hand, giving it a strange and disgusted look.

"The color doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad thing," Zexion appeared behind the group.

"True," Roxas lifted his up to the light as well. "I got a black one last time, it wasn't so bad."

"What was black?" Kairi asked, walking up to Roxas.

"Black turned Roxas into quite a large horse. Vicious thing stomped on Vexen and destroyed half the lab. Gave us something to celebrate," Luxord answered for Roxas.

"Well…here goes nothing," Axel was the first to down his potion. He stood still for a few moments, grimaced and fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Uh…was that supposed to happen?" Roxas looked down at the leader of the Exiles. Luxord shrugged and he drank his yellow potion.

Another pause, then Kairi screamed. Where Roxas had been standing a few seconds before was now a _giant_ bug. No seriously…a _giant_ praying mantis.

It made a strange sound, something that sounded like a cross between a mute chicken and a squeaky cat.

Everyone burst into laughter except for Kairi, who was busy shivering (she had bug 'phobia') and Xaldin, who was currently standing at Kairi's side, two of his lances hovering in the air around him, making sure the bug didn't make another move.

"Look, Axel!" Demyx screamed in laughter. Axel had finally transformed and turned into…a…giant…bear. A giant _pink_ bear.

Xaldin snorted and put his hand over his mouth, silently laughing. He had longed to get back at Axel for setting his robes on fire for a long time, so now he had his chance.

Luxord and Xigbar downed their potions as well, interested to know what their potions did. Luxord turned into small bonsai tree, and Xigbar turned into a dark brown house cat with a torn ear.

There was more laughter as everyone watched the bug Roxas take a stab at the cat Xigbar. Tree Luxord just stood there, unmoving and still. Axel the pink bear ran around the lab roaring a pitiful roar.

Their entertainment lasted for another few minutes before they all changed back.

"Ouch," Xigbar rubbed his side weakly. Roxas had been successful in stabbing him, however, Roxas wasn't left unhurt either. He was now sporting very sore toes and fingers. Luxord was fine; there was nothing wrong with him. Axel had a sore throat from all of the shouting he made.

"How come Demyx didn't change?" Roxas asked. There was silence and everyone looked in his direction.

Demyx shrunk and tried to sneak out of the room, but the four that transformed reached out and dragged him to the center of the lab.

"Drink it," Axel threatened as he summoned his chakrams and set it on fire. Roxas summoned only one Keyblade and Xigbar summoned both of his guns.

"I…don't want to?" he smiled weakly, but this did no help, for Axel lowered his chakrams and put him in a headlock.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Demyx wailed. "I don't _wanna_! No…don't _make _me!" he whined. Roxas and Xigbar grasped his arms and Luxord uncorked the bottle and shoved it in his mouth.

There was silence and then a shattering of glass as the bottle hit the ground. Then there was a shout and Roxas threw himself away from Demyx.

A huge explosion sounded, and smoke clouded over in the lab. Xaldin summoned the wind and formed a barrier of clean air for Kairi to breathe in as the smoke settled.

"What was _that_?" they could hear Zexion coughing behind him.

"We killed Demyx!" Axel shouted, suddenly losing his common sense. "We killed _Demyx!_"

"May Kingdom Hearts rest his soul," Luxord placed a hand over his heart and pretended to remove his hat.

"He was so young," Xigbar lamented.

"He was the only person that could understand me…apart from Axel," said Roxas.

"I'm not…_dead_!" a screech came through the haze in the lab. Immediately, all four Exiles looked over to a corner and stopped talking.

"What the—" Axel narrowed his eyes to see clearer, but he didn't need to. A second later, a large beak cut through the smoke and nipped him on the head.

"OW! OW! OW!" Axel started running around as the beast chased after him. Then Roxas started laughing.

"Demyx is _alive_!" both Luxord and Xigbar slapped each other 'five'. Axel screamed and fell face-first on the ground, having been stomped on by Demyx.

"I was never _dead_!" the feathery, long necked animal screeched. "I just knocked a table over!"

"That thing's loud," Zexion muttered. Demyx the ostrich swiveled his head in his direction.

"What did you say, Zexy?" he asked, his voice not toning down one bit.

"I said that _thing's _loud," Zexion repeated. The blue-eyed bird blinked before stepping on Axel on his way to the cool, blue-eyed man.

"I'm not a _thing_!" he wailed as he dived at Zexion, half from anger half from sadness. You see, Demyx didn't care what anybody called him. As long as he wasn't called a 'thing'. That hurt his feelings greatly.

"Ah! Zexion run! Mad Bird coming your way!" Roxas shouted. Zexion sighed and the book that he was reading at the table appeared in his hands.

It floated a few inches off from the palm of his hand, and he spun it to face the oncoming Demyx. The pages fluttered as he waved his hand behind it. Then a bright green light flashed out in front of the book and Demyx vanished. What remained of the bird was now a giant copy of Zexion's book.

But inside the pages, there was a large ostrich with smoke pouring out of its head. It didn't look too happy to be stuck in a book.

"Cool. Thanks Zexion." the remaining three advanced forwards slowly, not wanting to be sucked into the book as well. Axel remained on the floor, nobody bothered to revive him.

"You're going to be next if you do that again," the man threatened. This shut the other three up and they babbled about on about random things, avoid Zexion.

* * *

**Poor Demyx is now stuck in Zexion's book/weapon. And in an ostrich form. And before, Demyx was singing, "Me Against the Music" by Brittany Spears, it just popped into my head while I was typing this up. No idea though, b/c I've never actually heard the song before.**

**I was bored when I was creating this chapter and decided to have some fun typing up anything random that came up in my head at the time. So this is the result of my excessive rambling. **

**Thanks everyone for reading, PLEASE REVIEW!**

**edited 10/18/07**


	7. To the Castle!

**Thanks everyone for reading the sixth chapter. I'm hoping that the fighting will start soon, but that all depends on how I work this out and update.

* * *

**

**Chapter 7- **To the Castle!

"_Kairi! Kairi!" she opened her eyes. A tall boy around his late teens or so was looking down at her. He was laughing._

_She sat up and looked around at her surroundings with interest. She was sitting in a nice meadow with pretty green grass and lots of interesting flowers growing out of the ground. _

Roxas? No…

_A white-haired man was standing nearby and watching the two of them. He wore a brown uniform that had they symbol of Destiny placed on his chest._

_Turning around, she noticed a different man with blue hair standing even closer. He had a large X-shaped scar on his forehead and was currently donning white robes with the same symbol._

"_Come on Kairi! We have to get back to the Palace. My dad would kill us if he found out we were out here without his permission!" he reached his hand out and she grasped it and stood up._

"_How come? It's so peaceful and beautiful here!" she twirled around in the grass, letting her servant dress float up in the air above her ankles._

"_We're so close to the border between Destiny and Twilight. Obviously we're not on good terms with those people." He grabbed her hand again and started pulling her towards the forest. "We have to get back before dinner. That's pretty far from here judging the distance we have to run."_

"_Irresponsible, S---," the blue-haired man was running right next to them. "Next time, why don't you find someplace in the Palace to rest?"_

What's your name?

"_Shut up, Saix! I wanted Kairi to be happy with the place I showed her!" the boy complained._

I met you before…

"_Your Highness please, we really need to get back home," the white-haired man was at the boy's left. "Please hurry."_

"_I'm hurrying, Riku! I'm hurrying!" he started running faster. She kept up with him with every step._

Why are we here?

_They entered a small village with cobblestone paths. People stopped what they were doing and looked up from their jobs._

"_Good Day, Your Highness!" they shouted as they rushed by. _

"_Good day to you too!" he shouted over his shoulder._

I don't understand! Who are you?

_The Palace of Destiny was right in front of them._

"_Good, we could make it in without Dad knowing…uh-oh," he skidded to a stop on the cobblestone path._

_Standing in front of them was a tall and muscular man with silver hair and bright orange eyes. He had his arms crossed and was glaring down at them. _

"_And where have you been?" he asked slowly and dangerously. _

It starts with an 'S'…

"_I was showing Kairi around the meadow. She really liked it," the boy grinned up at his father._

'S….'

"_I told you not to go that far near the border! Our communications with Twilight aren't going very well. If they had taken to chance to capture you—"_

"_Saix would have fought them off," the boy said proudly. "And Riku would have helped!"_

"_That's not the point," he sighed. "I don't want you going out that far, even if Kairi asks. Saix, and you too Riku, remember that if he forgets."_

"_Yes sir," the two nodded and quickly bowed to him._

"_Now that's taken care of…" the boy's stomach growled loudly. He put his hand over it sheepishly. "Can we go eat?"_

_His father rolled his eyes, turned around, and walked back into the Palace gates. _

"_I wouldn't know. I'm not the one making the meals around here." _

"_Come on Kairi! I'll ask the cook to make something good!" he pulled her through the gates. _

"_My Lord! Please don't rush Miss. Kairi!" they could both hear Riku shouting behind them. "You're being too rough with her!"_

"_Idiots. The whole lot of them, Your Majesty." Saix grumbled as he followed the King back to the Throne Room.

* * *

_

Kairi's eyes blinked open quickly. She sat up and rubbed her eyes slowly, trying to comprehend everything in her dream.

Then she glanced around. Ever since she had came to the Cottage that Never Was, she had always slept in Axel's room. Nothing was really wrong with it…it was just red…and warm.

Luckily the forest had cold nights and mornings so she was comfortable in this room. Where Axel slept while she was in here was a complete mystery, the good thing was that he didn't walk in while she was bathing or changing.

Then something clicked. She remembered what her dream had been all about.

Excited about her new discovery, she jumped out of bed and started dressing at high speeds, not even remotely caring what she put on in her rush.

Getting ready for breakfast was a blur as she finally rushed down the stairs and to the large dining table now set up for 10 people.

"What's the rush Princess?" Luxord was already in the room, having been in charge of setting the table.

"Where's Roxas?" she asked excitedly. At this moment, both Zexion and Roxas appeared at the door. They were both carrying dishes filled with food for this morning's breakfast.

"Hey Kairi, you're up early," Roxas remarked as he set down a large soup bowl in the middle of the table. Zexion raised his eyebrows and placed the basket of biscuits next to the soup bowl. They straightened up and looked at her.

"I remember!" Roxas blinked.

"What?"

"I remember Sora!" Kairi squealed in joy. "The Prince!"

"Well, thank goodness, because today's the fifth day. Sora's _supposed_ to be married today, remember?" Axel appeared at the other entrance to the dining room. He was dressed in very strange attire…

His red hair was spiked up as always, but he was wearing what appeared to be an almost-blood red trench coat, a white shirt with a high collar, and black pants held up by a dark brown belt. The symbol of Radiance was imprinted at the top left of his shirt.

"What are you wearing?" Roxas asked, weirded out by his friend's strange clothing.

"I'm wearing the clothes of my country!" Axel grinned. "Radiance is red if you hadn't noticed yet."

"Is that why your hair is red?" Xaldin asked appearing behind Axel with no explanation.

"No, that's because I'm the King's younger brother," the redhead rolled his green eyes.

"And Kairi's the King's oldest daughter," Roxas grinned.

"Kairi's his _only _daughter. His only child for that matter," Zexion sighed. "There's still more things to bring out."

"Oh right!" the blonde followed the other man out of the room back to the kitchen.

"Okay, now that Kairi remembers what happened to her while she was in Destiny, we should start getting the groups ready to head to Destiny Castle," Axel placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed the Exiles plus Roxas and Kairi standing around the living room.

"Good! I can't wait to get back at them!" Xigbar summoned a gun and started twirling it on his finger.

"Well, the only thing we have to do is take down the Princess and any resistance she puts up. And trust me, that won't be very pretty," Xaldin said, his dark blue eyes scanning the room carefully.

"Nothing's pretty when Larxene is involved," Roxas pointed out.

"True," all the Exiles agreed.

"So what's the game plan?" Luxord asked, twirling a single playing card in his fingers.

"We march into the Palace, break into the King's throne room, deliver Kairi and Roxas and defeat Larxene and whoever stands with her," Axel lifted up a large map and unrolled it on the table.

"That the plans for the Destiny Castle?" Xigbar asked. Axel smirked.

"Yep. Every floor, every room, every secret passage inside and out," he lifted his finger and started tracing a small route from the Palace Gates to the center of the stronghold—the Throne Room.

"So we're actually going to do this," Zexion murmured. It wasn't a question.

"So, I think we should split into three groups. Roxas should stay with Kairi for safety reasons," Axel tapped his fingers on the table.

"So? We'll make the groups now," Xigbar put his feet on the table. Axel set his boot on fire and he slammed it back onto the ground irritably.

"Let's see…" the redhead glanced around the room. "I'll stay with Roxas and Kairi, if Xaldin wants to come, then he could come too. Zexion, you're the head of your group, Luxord and Lexaeus will answer directly to you. Xigbar…I hate to put you in charge…but it's either you or Vexen. You're in charge of looking after Vexen and Demyx."

"How come I wasn't in the choice for leader?" Demyx asked. Every Exile in the room, plus Roxas, rolled their eyes.

"Self-explanatory," Vexen replied quickly. "Though I wonder why I wasn't chosen."

Another eye roll around the room.

"Fine then," the scientists walked into a corner and sulked.

"Xigbar, no harming innocents," Zexion reminded the sharpshooter.

"Why would I bother with those? All they do is run and scream. I want the ACTION! I'm not waiting behind!"

"Then you could lead the first attack. I'll follow behind you and try to get Roxas and Kairi to the throne room in time. They'll be holding the ceremony in there," Axel said calmly.

"And trust me. They'll be plenty of guards," Roxas rolled his eyes at the maniac glint in Xigbar's eye.

"And Zexion will watch our backs, making sure that nobody gets in our way," Axel slammed his fist into the dinner table excitedly, causing it to crack loudly.

"Axel! We just replaced that table!" Vexen snapped.

"Oh," he lifted his fist and inspected the crater in the table. "Well just get Lexaeus to fix it."

"I control Earth, not wood," the large man rumbled, annoyed. "Go buy a new one."

"That table costs us 5,000 munny," Zexion murmured from behind his book.

"5,000!" the roar echoed throughout the forest.

* * *

**A Few Hours Later…**

"Okay, so the Ceremony starts in one hour. At nighttime, no idea why, but that's the way it goes," The Exiles, plus Roxas and Kairi, were crouching in the bushes in front of the large Castle gates. Xaldin was standing in front of a tree behind them, blending perfectly with the darkness.

"The Ceremony starts and night because the Sora was born at night," Zexion explained. "They have the ceremony now because it's the exact time when he turns 21."

"Oh. Well I knew that," Axel looked surprised.

"You did?" Demyx asked aloud. Several people sighed at his question.

"Just shut it Demyx."

"Don't say anything."

"Bite your tongue."

Suddenly, the sound of trumpets interrupted the peaceful, quiet, night air, signaling the start of the Ceremony.

"Okay. Ready to go?" Axel stood up slowly. The Exiles nodded around him. "All right then. Xigbar, Demyx, and Vexen…Good Luck."

"This'll be easy," Xigbar waved his hand with a careless air and made his way towards the Castle Gates, with Demyx happily skipping behind him, and Vexen following slowly, but steadily, muttering curses and equations under his breath.

"Well, it won't be as easy as they think. So everyone else…keep a good eye out," Axel rolled his eyes.

A moment later, yells were heard and the entire Castle could hear Xigbar's maniac laughter.

"All right. They're distracted, time to go," he stood up and gestured for Roxas and Kairi to follow.

Xaldin stepped forward and followed Kairi out of the bushes and up to the gate.

Kairi gulped and stared up at the giant golden gates of Destiny.

She was back.

* * *

**End of Chapter 7, and yes this story is coming to an end. Three more chapters should do the trick.**

**Thanks for reading, and review please!**

**Edited 02/20/08**


	8. Early Notice

Chapter 8- Chapter 8- Early Notice

"My Lord. It will be time soon enough. You must know what you're going to say to the people about your heir," Destiny's Sorceress, Aerith, was standing next to Xemnas, who was still sitting on his throne, propping his head up with his elbow.

"We're not ready," he replied curtly in his deep voice.

"We cannot wait for Kairi any longer. Once the celebration for Prince Sora's 21st birthday is over, then you'll have to announce it to the crowd," Leon, one of the King's many advisors was standing off to the side of the throne, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"We're not ready yet," Xemnas insisted.

"You must," Leon ordered. "There is no more time."

Xemnas shook his head and sighed deeply. Loud laughter could be heard from the other room as the party went on.

The doors leading from the back of the Throne Room bust open. Two guards for the Castle ran in.

"Sir! We're under attack!" Yuffie exclaimed. "We tried holding them off, but they keep moving on, no matter what we do! It's so annoying!"

"We're still thinking of what to do," Aerith said in her own peaceful way. Nothing seemed to bother Aerith much.

"Well. You're out of time now. The intruders are lead by Xigbar, Destiny's exile," Cid, another guard, explained. Xemnas looked up at the sound of the name.

"Xigbar? I thought he died. He hasn't been causing much havoc lately," he thought aloud.

"Does he sound dead?! It doesn't matter whether nor not he was causing _any_ havoc beforehand. But now he is, and he's not the only one doing it. I suggest that we barricade this place if His Majesty isn't going anywhere," Cid argued. "It's more annoying if you keep moving around where we can't defend you."

"We'll stay here," Leon answered before the King could open his mouth. "There is nowhere else."

"Then we'll set a perimeter around the room. The main force should be around the room with the Prince and the King," Yuffie was already running out of the Throne Room, issuing orders to every guard standing outside.

"That'll give you more time to think, Your Majesty. At least until the threat is taken care of," Aerith commented, turning back to Xemnas.

"Hopefully they could end this without anymore problems. The door leading to the party opened and the King's second advisor walked in.

"Cloud, what's happening out there?" Xemnas straightened out in his seat. The spiky blond man glanced at him.

"Ask Pete. He's all ready out there."

"That buffoon of a guard? Why did we ever hire him?" Cid demanded. "What good is he anyway?"

"We hired him because we needed more help," Leon replied.

"He's trying very hard to be nice and work hard," Aerith clasped her hands together in Pete's defense.

"I don't care if he's a useless guard or not, would you just find out what's happening outside?! I need someone to check up on Sora and secure the room for him as well!" Xemnas shouted. He watched in satisfaction as Cloud and Cid ran out of the room fulfilling his order.

* * *

In the next room, the celebration for Prince Sora's 21st birthday was still going on without a hitch.

"Happy Birthday Prince!" two chipmunks chorused from their seat on top of the cake table.

"Thanks," He nodded in their general direction.

"Happy Birthday, Sora," a large mouse with even larger shoes shook his hand with two of his own.

"Thanks King Mickey," the Sora smiled. He was glad that his father had invited the King and Queen of the Disney Castle, along with their courtiers and knights. They had always been good friends and supporters of Destiny.

The Disney Castle was located between the border of the Forgotten City (aka the Forbidden City and Radiance) and Destiny. King Mickey and Queen Minnie didn't necessarily rule over a country of their own. Their home was just called the Disney Castle, and they were the lord and lady of the castle.

"What troubles you, milord?" Riku appeared at his shoulder. Sora glanced at him and gave him a pained smile.

"It's difficult really, it's—"

"Not here," Riku pulled Sora out to an empty balcony, which overlooked the Naminé River.

"I'm worried about Kairi. We haven't seen her for a week. Why would she bother running off like that! I really liked her," Sora burst out when they left the noisy atmosphere.

"Milord, it's been 5 days since her disappearance. Master Cid has been deploying hundreds of his troops to different cities searching for her. King Mickey has been searching around the Disney Castle. And Yuffie has sent several of her fellow ninja to check on Twilight, to see if they kidnapped Kairi. There is nothing left to do but wait."

"I'm trying to have patience, I really am. But I don't know what to do while they're searching. There's nowhere to go without Kairi around. Nothing to see and nothing to do."

"Milord," Riku suddenly lowered his voice. "I've been given strict orders not to tell you this or alarm any of the guests, but there is an invasion on the Destiny Castle at this very moment."

"What?" Sora hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Why? Who's the leader?"

"Calm down!" his servant waved his hands out in front of him. "It's nothing big. The Destiny Castle is being fortified as we speak. They'll take down the invaders soon enough."

Sora still refused to relax. He turned around and scanned the room suspiciously, as if the intruders were already at his party (**which they were**).

"Milord, please don't alarm the guests," Riku warned him.

"Riku, stay by me," Sora ordered as he started walking back into the room. "I want you nearby in case we find one of them."

* * *

Larxene gnashed her teeth together furiously as she watched the invading party advance closer and closer to the Throne Room where her father was.

"How did that—that—girl survive?" she stammered in her anger. "And why didn't my potion work?"

"Your Highness, if I may say something," Marluxia stepped forward and kneeled down in front of her.

"Like what?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips, whirling around the face the pink-haired assassin.

"Your Highness, it was probably bad luck that Prince Sora was thinking about Princess Kairi at that exact moment."

"I KNOW!" the enraged blonde screamed, picking up a nearby chair and throwing it into the wall. Lightning crackled around her.

* * *

Suddenly, all of the lights were shut off around the Destiny Castle, causing a massive blackout.

At the party, the guests were looking up at the ceiling nervously. Several seemed ready to bolt.

"Everyone! Please stay calm! This is a normal blackout!" Cid jumped to the center of the room. Of course, nobody bothered to heed him.

"People!" Yuffie jumped up next to him. "The Princess is just having a nasty bout of the flu! The lighting should be fixed soon enough!"

That seemed to calm everyone down. Cid jumped off the table, grumbling about ninja stealing his spotlight.

"We need to keep an eye on the Prince at all times. Where's that troublesome servant of his? Riku!" Cid gave a hurried glance around the room.

"Here, Sir! Here!" Riku rushed over, accompanied by Sora.

"I thought it was an unspoken rule _not_ to tell the Prince," Cid grumbled.

"Forgive me. He's better off knowing," Riku frowned. "It's too dangerous without him knowing."

"True," the blonde rubbed his chin. "Then, Prince, you should know that we're fortifying the castle as best as we could. The only order His Majesty gave us was to make sure that you stay in this room. Security reasons."

"Now, now, now. Isn't that sad? How come I didn't get an invitation. How come I'm not invited? " A mocking voice drew their attention up to the ceiling. A man was perched on one of the many luxurious chandeliers in the room.

"Xigbar!"

* * *

edited 06-04-08


	9. Enter the Castle!

**Chapter 9- Enter the Castle!**

"Xigbar!" Sora gritted his teeth and immediately summoned his Keyblade. Beside him, Riku followed his actions. The guests at the party looked at him curiously, before looking at the man sitting on one of the chandeliers.

"We'll fight with you, My Lord!" Yuffie and Cid leaped over their heads and landed in front of them, their weapons already drawn.

"You guys like violence, huh? Guess you aren't as peaceful as I thought when I was here," the renegade Guard chuckled as he summoned his duo guns. "Let's get this party started!

* * *

Vexen was causing havoc in another section of the castle. Though he _was_ helping Axel at the same time.

He was creating a giant ice staircase that led from the Garden up to the roof of the Throne Room. The icy road then branched off to lead to the highest tower—Larxene's rooms.

So far, knocking out two of the guards was quite simple. Simply toss a vial of chloroform and at them. It usually shattered on contact, causing the guard to fall down where they were.

But Vexen had more pressing matters. He didn't want Demyx (wherever the _hell_ he was) to get in his way. And he had no idea _what_ the water musician was doing.

An explosion of loud music erupted from the south side of the Castle, the _direct_ opposite direction from where he was working.

Vexen smiled. He didn't have to look after the childish Exile any longer.

* * *

"Wow. The Castle really changed," Roxas commented as they ran through the Castle grounds.

"Roxas, you were gone for a pretty long time. I don't expect you to know where the Throne Room is," Axel reminded him.

"Um…I think it's this way!" Kairi pointed down a different hallway.

"You sure?" the Prince asked. But Axel took charge. Pulling out the large map of the Castle grounds, he traced their path and quickly marked the area they needed to go through to get to their destination.

"Kairi's right. We need to go down this hall and turn at the first hall to our left," he announced. Roxas frowned.

"You know, it's probably a good thing that everyone's celebrating at my brother's party. If it wasn't tonight, then everyone would definitely find us."

"Why are we hiding anyway?" Kairi asked. Axel sighed.

"Do I have to keep reminding you two? We have to hide from the Princess and those troublesome guards of hers. Oh, and I forgot about that blasted assassin she keeps with her all the time."

"And if Larxene catches us…" Roxas didn't finish.

"She'll destroy you both, and _then_ she'll take on Sora. With Kairi gone, there really isn't a choice. She might already know we're here. We just need to stay out of her range and find the King before she does."

"Then why are we standing here arguing about whether or not we need to be quiet?" Kairi demanded. "Let's get going already!"

"Of course, of course Your Highness," Axel nodded.

"Aren't you her uncle?" Roxas asked. "Can't you just call her Kairi?"

"Please. _Princess_ Kairi sounds much cooler than _Niece_ Kairi." He waved his hand around carelessly.

* * *

"Why that little—" Larxene threw a chair across the room. Marluxia quickly ducked, it bounced harmlessly off the bed. "How _dare_ she came back to steal _my _throne!"

"Your Majesty, should I start organizing the troops?" Marluxia dropped on all fours on the floor at her feet. Larxene paused in her rampage, thinking hard.

"Don't be stupid, Marluxia," she said finally. "There would be panic everywhere if I start ordering around my own troops out. Father would suspect something."

"What do you plan on doing with the King, Your Majesty?"

"I'll probably get rid of him somehow. Maybe I'll give him to Twilight as a gift. I think they'll just _adore_ him there, you know with all of those politics and stuff."

"But Your Majesty. That's where revolts start. Keeping your Father alive could damage your seat."

"He can't quite get rid of me can he? _I'm_ his daughter. His _eldest_ child. He can't get rid of me, nor replace me. It's a difficult thing for Assassins to understand."

"I know, Your Highness. I cannot even try to understand your higher logic," he placed his forehead on the ground.

"Of course not," she turned heel and left him kneeling there. "Excuse me. I have to _reunite_ with my future _sister_."

* * *

"Here it is," Axel pointed to the large double doors in front of them. "All we need to do is go through them. And mind you, that's not going to be easy."

"Yeah. Dad mentioned before that the doors of the throne room were protected by charms. He didn't know what kind, but he knew that once, someone that wasn't supposed to entered the Castle was knocked into that column over there (he pointed to a column right behind them) because the charms were set against him."

"That makes things more difficult," Kairi agreed. "But how do we get through?"

"Oh please! Kairi! Aren't you engaged to the Prince or something?" Axel rolled his eyes. She paused and nodded slowly. "Then that gives you automatic passage through those doors. I can't go; Xaldin can't even go. We're _intruders_ remember? We're not even from Destiny, so we can't get in."

"I don't know if I can even go in anymore," Roxas looked at the doors sadly.

"Roxas! You're a Prince! Of course you can go in!" Kairi blurted out.

"I don't know about that. I'm quite sure that the door can block anyone who is a current Exile. That probably includes me because I've been living with them for a long time."

"But that's so sad," she cried. "You can't even visit your own country?"

"That's how the Exiles became exiles," Axel reminded her. "We all got exiled from our home country. It seems proper just to think that if you're not welcome in your home country, then where are you welcome?"

"But Roxas wasn't banished!"

"There was a reason he didn't return. And those charms are _not_ going to let him go through. It's best if you go on ahead, Kairi."

"No! You come with me!" she grabbed Roxas's arm.

"Seriously, Princess, do you have to make me do this?" Axel groaned and ran at the door.

He touched the doors without any difficulty, but when he took a hold of the handle, a loud sizzling sound occurred and he was knocked backwards into the pillar Roxas was talking about.

"Oh!" Kairi squealed in shock, Roxas was speechless; he couldn't say anything to calm her down.

"That's—what happens," he groaned as he sat himself up, leaning his back against the offensive pillar.

"Try. We'll catch you. Xaldin can slow down your fall," Roxas urged, pushing her forward.

Kairi walked forward, occasionally throwing looks at the people she was leaving behind. She was going to move on they weren't.

It was unfair.

_But isn't life unfair? _A voice whispered in her head. She stopped short. This voice wasn't the sound of her own voice inside her head.

"Kairi?" she dimly heard Roxas's voice behind her. She had one hand just inches away from the door handle.

"Well, well, well. If it's not my future sister, Kairi. Oh! And Roxas! And my dearest sister's bodyguards!"

"Larxene!" Roxas cried out when his blonde haired sister walked closer to them. Nobody had expected her to get so close without anybody knowing. It seemed as if the other Exiles hadn't been able to stop her.

"Well now. Let's see," she put a finger on her chin. "My younger brother, Sora, is having his party tonight. And here are some troublemakers to crash his special party. I think I'll be a nice older sister for once and rid him of these party crashers. Good idea is it not?"

"Your best so far," Roxas said sarcastically. Larxene laughed.

"Dearest brother, do not act so bitter towards me. My Assassin didn't know how to properly…put you away. It was none of _my_ business, I assure you."

"Why you little—"

"Is this your bodyguard?" she laughed at Axel. "I never even knew a servant like you could have servants of her own."

"Don't call her a servant!" Axel and Xaldin summoned their weapons. Larxene laughed.

Lightning bolts surrounded her as she summoned her weapons. When they vanished, she had eight long yellow and green kunai in her hands.

"Larxene!" Roxas summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "This is between us!"

"Let's fight Little Brother!" she shouted gleefully. "Let's have a fight that _proves_ you don't deserve to be here!"

"Kairi!" the princess was lifted off her feet by a gust of wind. She landed in between Axel and Xaldin safely.

"Roxas!" she cried out as the two siblings charged at each other, lighting crackling around them, forming the battle perimeter.

* * *

edited 10/13/08


	10. Roxas vs Larxene and Other Dilemmas

Chapter 10- Roxas vs. Larxene and other Dilemmas

"Go Roxas!" Axel shouted, ignoring Kairi's lack of excitement. He pumped his fist up and down in the air as he cheered the blonde prince on.

"Roxas!" Kairi cried out—for a completely different reason. She was worried that Larxene might completely finish him off. "Don't lose!"

Larxene laughed her high-pitched laugh and threw one of her electric-charged kunai at her youngest brother. Roxas quickly blocked her assault by lifting Oathkeeper and placing it in its path. Her weapon fell to the ground, crackling.

"Go Kairi! Go!" Roxas shouted, throwing Oblivion at his sister. The black Keyblade hit home as it knocked her down the hall, leaving the doorway clear to the Throne Room.

"But—" she hesitated, clasping her hands together.

"Oh, for the love of Kingdom Hearts!" Axel groaned. "Get going! Don't worry about Roxas! I'm not exactly dead meat here!"

Kairi gasped when lightning crackled around the area again. This time, Roxas went flying past her and into a wall. But he used Oblivion to slow down his fall and recovered quickly.

"Little brother, do you honestly think you'll defeat me?" Larxene demanded as she rushed towards him, her left arm drawn back for a devastating blow.

"I'm just going to stop you! Sora will reign!" he proclaimed, rolling to the side so her arm diced the stone wall.

"Hah! You give our brother the reigns of the country? The country will fall within _minutes_ of his rule!" she knocked Oathkeeper out of his hand and sliced at it. The tips of her blades met his bare hand and sliced it, bringing in small droplets of blood.

"Roxas!" the blonde turned his head and noticed Kairi standing a few feet away from Larxene.

"Go!" he ordered. "It's only a scrape!"

"No! I'll help you!" she ran towards them, a blinding white light appeared in her right hand. She swung this beam of light and it hit Larxene.

Larxene screeched in pain and anger and whirled on the spot, bringing her right arm down on Kairi's face.

"NO!" Roxas brought his remaining Keyblade, Oblivion, down on his elder sister. But he wasn't going to make it.

"Kairi!" Axel shouted, running forward to aid her.

But it wasn't either of the two that saved her, neither was it Xaldin, who had been putting a protective shield around Kairi when she had attacked.

The doors of the Throne Room and been opened and the King's advisors entered the hall. Yuffie had teleported and gotten Kairi out of the way just in time and handed her over to Aerith, who pulled her into the Throne Room and into safety. Xaldin followed the two quickly, just before the doors slammed shut on the battle.

"Are you all right, Kairi?" Aerith asked, letting go of her once the noise died down.

"Yes," she nodded, looking down at her right hand. "But what is this?" She lifted her hand and showed her weapon to Aerith and Xaldin.

"Your Keyblade," Xaldin replied, looking down at the flowery Keyblade.

"A Keyblade will only appear if you have something to do with the Royal Families. It works for any of the countries, although, we don't believe Twilight royals can summon one at all," Cid wandered over to their group.

"Please. You must meet the King now," Aerith pulled at her hand. She pointed at the other end of the long hall, where King Xemnas was seated on his throne, flanked by Leon and Cloud.

"But what if he's angry that I was with the Exiles for so long?" Kairi asked, hesitating in her steps.

"Don't worry," her escort smiled. "You were away for less than a week. Prince Sora just made it seem like it was months over here, though."

"Glad you're safe and sound, Princess," Cid smacked her shoulder, causing Kairi to fall forward and Aerith to support her.

"Let's go. I promise the King won't be angry with you," she started pulling Kairi down the long carpet up to the throne.

As she was being led down the hall, she turned her head to see if Xaldin was following closely behind her. She was deeply disappointed when she saw him at the entrance of the Throne Room, though she knew he would be by her side in an instant if needed to be.

"Kairi," Xemnas stood up from his throne and walked down the steps to meet the two women coming down the carpet. "Or should I say, Your Highness?"

"No, Kairi's all right," she curtsied quickly, wincing at the sight of her ripped and tattered dress.

"It's not fitting for someone of your status to be called a name without the proper title."

"Yes, but, I'm never going to be used to it. I mean, up until a few months ago, I was only Kairi, a plain servant-girl from the outside."

"No, I don't think so," the King countered. "The Throne of Radiance has been empty for too long. The Princess—the heir to the throne—has been absent for years. She should be around your age by now."

"Yes, she probably should be," Kairi agreed, not knowing where this conversation was going. "When she comes back, the country will be brought back from it's ruinous states. The country will shine amongst the other two."

"That man—the one you came in with—the one with red hair, his hair color is the same as the Royal Family's," Leon spoke up.

"That's because Axel is from Radiance. He was the King's brother," she said quickly.

"The King's brother then…" Xemnas put his hand to his chin. "So the Princess would be his niece…"

"That's what he said," she nodded. She failed to notice that Leon and Cloud were both looking at her with silent interest.

"Kairi, I want you to be as honest and sincere as you could possibly be when you answer my question," Xemnas spoke up, his voice echoing around the long room.

"Yes sir, I will do with the best of my abilities," Kairi curtsied again.

"Kairi, do you really not remember anything about your past, except living with your parents up until they died of that plague?"

"Yes sir—I mean—No sir, I don't remember anything. I've been with my parents for my entire life, I don't remember a time when I wasn't with them."

"So it's entirely possible for you to have been somewhere when you were a small child and not being able to remember why?"

"Probably, sir. I don't remember every aspect of my life."

"Could you have been to Radiance when you were little?"

"I was actually born there. Then my parents moved because they couldn't pay the local taxes. I lived in Destiny for most of my life. My parents could afford to pay their taxes and take care of me."

"So you were born in Radiance, huh…" Xemnas lapsed into deep thought once again. Leon stepped forward and took over what his King was unable to finish.

"That hair color of yours matches the hair color of Royalty in Radiance. The color red was highly prized. Nobody else in the country was allowed to have that color. I believe that people born with that color either had to move out of the country or change their hair color. Do you believe that was the case for you?"

"I didn't know about that law," Kairi looked taken aback.

"The Royal Family prided their monopoly of the color red," Leon explained. "It was a Royal Color, not something everyone else could see."

"We believe you are the Princess of Radiance," Cloud spoke up, getting right to the point.

"Cloud, couldn't you be a bit more discreet? We're not trying to scare her here!" Cid exploded. The other blonde warrior shrugged his shoulders in response.

"No, that can't be. My parents weren't rulers of the country," Kairi smiled and waved it off. "I remember we were really poor."

"Hopefully, those Exiles will stay around for a while after we get rid of the threat of Larxene," Leon ignored Kairi's comment. "The King would like to speak with them."

"Especially, the redhead," Cid agreed.

"Could you stop making decisions without conferring with me?" Xemnas snapped, annoyed with his advisor's decisions.

"Sorry, My Lord, but in this case, you speak too slowly to get your point across," Leon apologized, though everyone could tell, he didn't mean a word of it.

"Yes, that is all good and well, but…" Aerith spoke up, bringing attention to herself. She was looking over at Xaldin (who was still on the other side of the long room by the entrance). "Do we know who he is?"

"Kairi?" Leon turned his attention back to Kairi once again. "Is he someone you know?"

"Yes…well…not really," she shrugged helplessly. "He says he was my bodyguard a long time ago. We just met recently. Around the same time I found the Exiles."

"Well, that settles it!" Cid sighed and scratched his head. "Kairi's the Princess of Radiance, no arguing about it."

"But—"

"I said no arguing!" Cid growled, pointing a finger at Kairi before she could finish her argument.

"So anyway, Kairi," Aerith folded her fingers in front of her. "We need to speak with the people you've been living with for these past few days. They might be able to shed some light on our situation here."

"Why?"

"Well, let's put it this way," Cloud started explaining in his slow, uncaring voice (or it seemed uncaring). "The Prince cannot marry anybody lower than noble class. So in this case, the one most potential suitor claims she's a commoner. That won't do so well with the noble families in the country. We might have to deal with an uprising."

"Which brings us back to the present…Larxene," Cid grumbled. "What to do about that Princess?"

"I _told_ you not to make decisions without me!" Xemnas thundered.

"You probably forgot there was a battle happening," Leon waved his King's complaint aside.

"But when Cid mentioned it, you already remembered, right?" Aerith smiled, showing her skill in controlling situations.

"Of…of course!" Xemnas strode up and stood in front of Kairi, ignoring the fact that Leon and Cid had to take a step back in their respectable positions to make room for him.

"And now, My Lord, you will decide what to do with Larxene. I suggest getting rid of her," the brown haired woman in a red dress, smiled warmly at him.

"And now, I will decide what to do with Larxene, my daughter," he paused, thinking over his response. "I believe that we should banish her and request that other countries do the same—to prevent another uprising such as this."

Beside him, both Cid and Leon rolled their eyes.

Aerith just beamed.


End file.
